


Don't Be Flippant, this is Serious

by dreamlittleyo



Series: Flippant 'Verse [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Confusion, Denial, M/M, Telepathic Bond, Wordcount: 100-1.000, Wordcount: 100-2.000, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-28 13:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/674860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamlittleyo/pseuds/dreamlittleyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk and Spock have grown closer than either of them realizes, and McCoy won't stop asking questions.<br/>(Prompt: <a href="http://dreamlittlelion.livejournal.com/13542.html">Flippant</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Be Flippant, this is Serious

"How did you know, Jim?" McCoy asks. The only other sound in the office is the irregular beep of some experiment Bones has going in the corner.

"Know what?" Kirk's not trying to be flippant. Just evasive. It's an important distinction.

"Don't be a brat. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

Kirk sighs and slouches in his chair, crossing his arms in an almost defensive pose. It's not as if he's ever managed to keep a secret from Bones for more than two days. Besides, what's the point of keeping quiet when he's not even sure what he's trying to hide.

"You mean, how did I know Spock was hurt when he wasn't even on the planet with us?" 

Of course it's what McCoy means. The mission may have verged on disaster from start to finish, but there aren't many unanswered questions now that everyone is safely back aboard the Enterprise. Back where they belong. A little worse for wear in some cases, but no permanent damage done. Kirk is going to call this one a win.

"You two are great with all that nonverbal bullshit, don't get me wrong," McCoy mutters, arching one eyebrow in strangely Spock-like manner. "But when _you're_ stranded on a hostile planet, and your first officer is somewhere in orbit trying not to blow up your ship, you should _not_ be able to tell when he's got a paper cut."

Spock suffered a little more than a paper cut keeping the Enterprise in the sky yesterday. He nearly bled out on the bridge; only a lucky combination of Vulcan stubbornness and Uhura's emergency medical training kept him alive. 

Kirk doesn't let his mind dwell along those paths. He reminds himself that Spock is stable now. Resting. Safe and intact, under Nurse Chapel's competent care.

Present security doesn't ease the cold knot that accompanies Kirk's memory of the instant Spock was hurt. It doesn't mitigate the inexplicable chill, the rush of adrenaline, the raw knowledge that Spock was dying and Kirk couldn't do a single fucking thing about it.

It doesn't explain _how_ Kirk knew, and he shrugs helplessly when he realizes McCoy is still waiting for an answer.

"I'm not sure what to tell you," Kirk admits. It's not evasion this time. It's just that he knows precisely squat, and that's not a great place to start. These are instincts he couldn't put into words if he tried, tangled up in Spock and defying all attempts at comprehension.

"Has this happened before?" McCoy asks, and Kirk honestly has to stop and think. _Has_ it happened before? He's certainly come to feel an intuitive connection with his second in command; it's been growing gradually over the year and a half they've served together, more intensely in recent months.

They make a great team. Kirk has never stepped back to wonder if there's more going on than that.

"Jim, don't take this the wrong way." McCoy levels his most piercing I'm-a-Doctor-You-Can-Trust-Me expression at Kirk. "But what the hell is going on between you and Spock?"

" _Nothing_ ," Kirk snaps, except even as the word leaves his mouth he finds himself questioning the truth of it.

"Really." McCoy quirks an eyebrow at him, and Kirk glares in return. He hates the dry disbelief Bones manages to pack into one word, and he _really_ hates the obvious skepticism flashing in the doctor's eyes. Like he suspects Kirk of lying, and fucking around with his first officer in secret. Or no, that's too strong; that's not what McCoy's eyebrow is saying. It's a gentler rebuke. McCoy suspects _feelings_ (maybe an inappropriate fantasy or two), but nothing more than that.

"Bones, seriously. Nothing is going on." And then, because it seems like a relevant point, he adds, "You know Vulcans are telepaths."

"Yeah. _Touch_ telepaths. Doesn't really explain much under the circumstances.

Kirk glowers and wishes, not for the first time, that Spock weren't so damn cryptic about anything relating to his Vulcan heritage. It leaves him with no point of reference for what Bones is intimating. Hell, Kirk's not even sure how to frame the questions McCoy's pointed observations seem to raise.

He needs more information.

"I should probably talk to Spock," he says. The idea is inexplicably terrifying.

"Yeah," McCoy agrees dryly. "You probably should."

And because he's got nothing else to offer short of unfounded suppositions and confusion all his own, Kirk stands and takes his leave. He feels the weight of McCoy's curious gaze until the door hisses shut behind him.


End file.
